On Friday with much trepidation I went to a party with Harritte and Sjoerd. Harriette had been telling me about this Ivory Coast party for weeks and with my trip to Embu postponed I was able to go. When I had packed for coming to Nairobi for some reason it never entered into my mind that I would ever be going out and I didn't pack anything nice enough to go to a party in. Luckily, Rebecca is pretty much the same size as me and she let me borrow a nice shirt and a pair of heels. It was such a huge production to get ready I couldn't believe it. Harriette straightened my hair, I got dressed, Rosa Maria took pictures of me, Natasha lent me some jewelry and as if it could not get anymore embarrassing Natasha took pictures of me as I was leaving like I was going to my first school dance or something. We got to the party over a hour late and I was worried because they were serving dinner too that we might miss something but we ended up being one of the first people there. Everyone was running on Kenyan time so the restaurant where it was at really didn't start filling up for another hour. Everyone was speaking French at the party since it was Ivorian and I felt so left out luckily Harriette's friend was there and she didn't speak any French too. The food was good I had grated cassava which I had never had before, some tomatoes in pepper sauce, fries and rice but the ginger juice that I had was so strong and gross it was almost choking. After dinner Harriette dragged me to the dance floor. I have never danced at a party before let alone to African music and it did not come easy to me. I constantly had to think and be aware of every movement I was doing to make sure that I didn't start looking crazy. I am so bad at dancing, seriously bad. What are you supposed to do with your arms? I was wracking my brain trying to think of something to do with them because if it was up to me I would just leave them hanging aimlessly by my sides. After what felt like an eternity on the dance floor I sat back down and rested my feet. When we finally left the party at around 1 we were one of the first people to leave. All in all it was fun and a completely new experience I decided now I am going to be a fun, dancing, party person with a little more practice I will at least.
Oh super fun! I'm not much of a dancer, either, but when I stop and realize it's really just about having fun (sometimes the best dancers aren't really great dancers; they're just the ones to let lose and have a great time) I stop thinking about how silly I look with my endlessly long arms and legs and just get into the music.
ReplyDeleteA great experience for you!!!